Ever tried a beer that haunted you for a while? What are those flavor's, what style is it in, how could I ever brew something close? I've had several of these but the most long standing has been the original batch of La Terroir by New Belgium Brewing Company of Fort Collins Colorado. I first tried this beer 2 or 3 summer's ago at Belmont Station's PuckerFest ( A week long celabration of sour and funky beer's) For some reason this beer has stuck with me for so long, I can distinctly remember ordering the beer, taking a few sips , and then chatting with the bar keep about how this beer was basically Orval with a bunch of Biscuit or Victory malt. It was a beautiful mix of flavors and I ended up ordering several pints.
Fast forward several years, New Belgium has now bottled La Terroir atleast once in their Lips of Faith series. Ive bought several bottles in hope for a taste of what I tried some years ago, or atleast a taste of what that beer is after sitting with brett for many months, no luck, after several bottles and tap tastes it seems like a vapid dull shadow of my memory.
no worry's though, I have such a distinct beer flavor in my head from the initial taste that I've had no problem coming up with what I feel will be a similar recipe.
I'm calling this beer "fat fisted ale" because the two main flavor adding ingredients are rather over the top or "heavy handed" to say the least.
First off, Biscuit Malt. This is a Belgian toasted malt that tastes like wonder bread after being toasted in the toaster to "just browned" A beautifully focused flavor in my opinion that is often used excessively to a point that is cloying, or exhaustive to to the palate.
Second is Brett B. In my experience Brett Brux is overwhelming usually swallowing up all malt character with it's spicy phenols.
My hope with this beer is to have the biscuit malt's over the top toastiness balance out the brett.
My recipe is very much influenced by both Orval and Fat Tire (allegedly the first batch of Terrior was just a brett inoculated batch of Fat Tire)
Fat Fisted Ale
6.25 Gallons
1.060 OG
38 IBU
13SRM
86% Eff
82% 2 Row
12% CaraMunich
6% Belgian Biscuit
Magnum -8%AA .25 oz. @ 60 min.
Hallertau -3.9%AA 1 oz. @ 15 min - .5 @ whirlpool
Tettnanger -4.4%AA 1 oz. @ 15 min - .5 @ whirlpool
Perle - 8.8%AA 1 oz. @ 15 min - .5 @ whirlpool
US - 05 yeast
68 degree ferment
Awesome, now when you want to have some friends over for a drink or 3 you can just text them, "Let's All Get Fisted!"
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fat tire with b brux assessment. I had the Terrior on tap almost 2 years ago at the Stone brewpub and that is exactly what it tasted like: Fat Tire with B Brux. It was very tasty, very biscuity and vitory-y.
Paul,
ReplyDeleteI´m really intrigued: Is the cat an ingredient? If it is, what kind of funky flavors does it add?
I notest that Seanywonton has a cat too, that´s why I´m wondering about.
My wife has three cats too, that´s why I´m interested in the subject, although I never heard about any "Kitty" style...
I saw your link on the Brewing Network Forum and figure I check it out. Just from surveying your posts, I can see that I have a lot to learn about brewing.
ReplyDeletehttp://beerinspector.blogspot.com/